THREE THINGS... Three Habits to Break When You Are At Worship

Coming to church with regularity is an important religious ritual for many people. It is an easy thing to walk into the sanctuary and fall into simple routines and habits that, even after just a few weeks, much less years of repetition, makes being at church just as comfortable as sitting on the couch watching a favorite show. But the purpose of worship is actually not to be so comfortable that we know it like the back of our hand. The role of worship as a spiritual practice, for that is what it is, is to gently wake us up to another reality that is different from the one we move around in at all other times during the week; it is to wake us up to a higher consciousness, Christ Consciousness, or that which the gospels refer to as the Kingdom of God. This process is subtle, however, and while we do not invoke it necessarily, we do indeed invite it by adopting a posture of reception so that the Spirit may do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. We do not awaken, we are awakened. The comfortable habits we adopt are not spiritual aids but can instead be spiritual blockages. Habits that lull our senses close us off instead of opening us up. Small routines that we are very attached to mirror patterns of rigidity that exist into other parts of our lives. So here are a few habits to consider breaking when next you attend worship:

1. Sit in a new place. You won't like it. But do it anyway. Observe your discomfort. Observe your new perspective from that seat, what can you see and hear clearly from this new location? What have you gained? What have you lost? Sit in that place for a few weeks until you notice it is becoming comfortable. Move to another place. Repeat. After a few months go back to "your old seat." What did you gain? What have you lost? 

2. Engage someone you don't know well in conversation. We are creatures of habit. In the same way we tend to sit in the same pew, we also tend to gravitate to people who are familiar and who we perceive are "like" us. Before or after worship, strike up a conversation, even a very brief one, with someone you have rarely or perhaps never have talked with at length. Silently, offer a gift of gratitude for this person. Later, write down three things you liked about this person and ways you are different. Sit with those three things and ask yourself how they remind you of you (even the things you initially identify as clear differences). Don't try to rush the answer; hence, the 'sit with it' instruction. Why do you think you chose that particular person to engage with? The outer world we experience is a mirror. Learning to read the mirror is an excellent spiritual practice. We cannot see ourselves and are poor judges of how we are perceived by others. For instance, the only way we can see our shadow side is to read the mirror of ourselves as it is revealed to us by the people we engage with. In this practice the mirror will reveal parts of ourselves we may be tempted to judge harshly. Observation is all that is necessary for spiritual transformation. Judgment either of others or self (after a time you will see it's the same thing) is not a spiritual aid and will not serve you well. Try appreciation instead as a path to Love, a door by which to enter the Kingdom.

3. Stand when you normally kneel and kneel when you normally stand during these prayers.... There is a particularly damaging tendency of religious people that all Christians should be familiar with and that is spiritual materialism. It is when we attach to particular rituals in worship and believe them to be "the right/proper way" of doing the parts of worship. Everyone is susceptible to this unfortunate tendency and plays in it from time to time. However, there is only one "right way" in the context of religious worship and that is to walk through the doors and be there. That, in itself, requires courage because it invites vulnerability/openness to the Spirit. Whether we sit or stand or kneel is a far second in importance to the work of showing up. If you always kneel at the Prayers of the People or at the Eucharistic Prayer, stand instead or vice versa. Standing for prayer is as acceptable as kneeling, sitting or lying prostrate - all currently observed in the Orthodox Church. Pews were invented by Protestants only 500 years ago to allow congregations to listen to long sermons. But for the first 1500 years Christians stood or sat for much of the worship. If you feel you simply can't do this because it's not the way you were taught or you've always done it this way.... I invite you to keep working at #1 and come back to this in time.